The Anxiety Confrontation
by Numberwang2
Summary: Tired of being a wallflower Lucy comes to the decision that she has to try and deal with her anxiety problems.


**Hello! This is my first fanfic. It's just a short one about Lucy and what led to her decision to try and address her social anxiety issues. Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ****_The Big Bang Theory_**** or any of its varied characters. ****_The Big Bang Theory_**** is a copyright of Chuck Lorre & Bill Prady.**

"Lucy… Lucy snap out of it!"

Her boss startled her. Lucy had been staring off into the distance, her mind wandering a million miles away.

"Sorry about that!"

She immediately got back to her work, it wasn't that she found her job as a web designer boring it was just that her mind was wandering a lot recently. The truth was Lucy enjoyed her job, she always had a passion for computers, they seemed to be so much easier to understand than people. She could work at something she enjoyed and just as importantly it didn't involve a lot of interacting with anyone else.

"It's alright. I was just going to say we're going out for lunch later, do you want to join us?" he asked.

"No thanks" Lucy said abruptly.

He knew what the answer was going to be but it felt courteous to ask anyway. She was such a strange girl.

Lucy preferred to spend these breaks reading by her desk. She had been working there for a few months but still didn't feel very comfortable around her co-workers, certainly not enough to eat something with them. After all what did she have to talk about besides work? Almost nothing. It would just feel so awkward. In truth Lucy had always been painfully shy. Going back to her schools days when she would just keep her head down and focus on lessons and ignore most of the chit-chat, except for dreaded occasions when her teacher would prod her to "come out of her shell". In college it was much of the same story. It was always more comfortable to sit in her room and read while others would be partying. Although she always look in awe at people who would be willing to go out so often. How could they enjoy meeting so many new people when just the thought of it terrified her! It was like they inhabited a different world to Lucy.

After arriving home and eating dinner she settled down to watch a good game of hockey that had been recorded when her phone rang.

"Hi Mom" Lucy said.

"Hiya, how are you?" Mom replied

"Fine" Mom always knew she was going to get a monosyllabic response. She always had to dig deeper to get more information.

"How is work going at the moment?" asked Mom

"Well its getting busier, we're getting closer to prom season so the websites have to be up to scratch soon enough"

"That's good. Have you been doing anything outside of work recently?"

Lucy hesitated, there was very little to say about this. At least with Dad they could talk about hockey.

"Not really Mom, I haven't been up to much to much lately"

Mom sighed, it was always the same story with her daughter.

"Do you have any plans for the future?"

"Not really..."

Mom was feeling a little frustrated. When Lucy moved away for the first time she always knew she would struggle initially but over time hoped she would get to a place where there would be a few friends to hang out with or some new hobby to take up, maybe she could even get a boyfriend. None of that looked like it was on the horizon though.

"Lucy, have you ever thought about taking up a new hobby or something, you can't just sit at home every evening. Don't you think its time you got a little more proactive?"

Lucy's eyes widened, she had started to think about that more but it felt strange being said out loud by Mom. Lucy wanted to try new things and push herself more but it was so difficult, so scary. It was unbelievable to be put on the spot like this.

"Well….ya I have thought about it a bit more lately"

"Ok so what are you going to do? Mom asked candidly

This was more aggression then Lucy was used to. Sure she wanted to try and deal with her awkwardness but she didn't like the pressure being put on her, even if Mom was only doing it for her own good.

"I have been looking around for something new to do but I still have to take my time with it. I can't just rush into something"

"I know it's not easy but please promise me you'll at least try something new, I don't want to see you just sitting around all the time. Surely that's not what you want either.

"No but it's still something that I have to do at my own pace, it can't be something that I'm pressured into."

"I'm not saying you should rush into a crowded bar and try to talk to everybody there, just small steps" Mom pleaded.

"Mom I understand what you're saying but this is something that I have to do at my own pace, not a pace someone else thinks I should go at!" Lucy said angrily.

Lucy hung up. She felt angry at her mother, yes this is an important issue but Mom shouldn't have been so forceful about it. At the heart of it however Lucy was upset because she knew Mom was right. It was time that Lucy started to push herself into situations that made her uncomfortable, scared even. She didn't know where to start though, all of this just seemed so easy for everyone else. Why was Lucy so nervous around people? It was time to finally do something about it though. Lucy would have to find something, a gathering of a small group of people that could be used to test herself. Lucy felt uneasy but was sure something could be found.

It's amazing that all of that happened just a few days ago. Lucy had gone from arguing with her mother to sitting across a stranger having a coffee on Valentines Day. How had that happened? Lucy came home from work but didn't have any particular plans for that evening. She just decided to go for a walk. Nothing specific in mind, she just to clear her head and to think. It wasn't something that she usually did but she just wanted to walk and get some fresh air. All throughout the day she had to listen to people at the office talking about their plans for Valentines Day, what they had bought, what they were going to do etc. She felt lonely just listening to them. Lucy decided to walk down a few streets she hadn't gone down before. Nothing particularly exciting here, some shops, a couple of bars. Some place down the street there was a store with a lot of people in it; it didn't seem like a couple's thing though. She wondered what was it. It was a comic book store with a sign for a singles only party. Lucy thought to herself "maybe this is something I can try, there are about 20 people in there but I don't know anything about comics. What if I feel like an outcast?" Lucy's heart started beating faster, her instincts were telling to her to run away and go back to her apartment, but these were exactly the types of instincts she had to fight against. This was it, Lucy gritted her teeth, summoned up all her courage and went in.


End file.
